Winsted selectmen authorize money for paving projects

Published 10:15 pm, Friday, May 9, 2014

WINSTED >> A drive down Whiting Street is more than just bumpy. Like many of the back roads extending off Main Street in Winsted, the ride requires two hands on the wheel. It forces the driver to dip and duck around potholes and contusions in the pavement for fear of popping a tire or damaging a bumper.

Thursday night, selectmen voted to try and make rides like these a little smoother. At a special meeting, the board authorized a bid waiver for Harwinton Paving to the tune of $37,613 for various paving projects that would begin as early as May 15 and take two days, weather permitting.

Public Works Director Neil Amwake, whose final day on the job was Friday, identified five locations throughout Winsted that Harwinton Paving would work on: the Holabird Avenue Bridge, Whiting Street, Gilbert Avenue, West Wakefield Boulevard and the Bridge Street Bridge.

Amwake outlined how when the DPW staff milled the Holabird Avenue Bridge, they milled the above listed four locations.

“HP recognizes that paving the Holabird Avenue Bridge is a priority for the Town, thus they have offered to adjust their paving schedule to accommodate the town,” Amwake wrote, in a letter to Town Manager Dale Martin.

DPW will complete final preparations along Holabird, including the removal of loose chips of pavement and the like. Until the concrete sidewalk running along the bridge is repaired, Amwake wrote that the north sidewalk will remained closed. The south sidewalk, however, will be open to pedestrian traffic.

The bridge, which has been closed since February, will be open in the next week or so, according to selectmen.